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Sociolinguistics from the Periphery "presents a fascinating book about change: shifting political, economic and cultural conditions; ephemeral, sometimes even seasonal, multilingualism; and altered imaginaries for minority and indigenous languages and their users."

Book Information

This is the first book to focus entirely on the analysis of sign languagepoetry. Richly illustrated with images taken from poetry performances, thebook draws mainly on the work of Dorothy Miles in both British and AmericanSign languages, but the analytical tools developed here are also used inexamining recent work by Paul Scott and other sign language poets,exploring the elements of text and performance that can inform andchallenge our understanding of poetry more generally. Topics coveredinclude the use of repetition and symmetry, the importance of visualneologisms for aesthetic effect and the creation of metaphor and ambiguity.With an Afterword by Paddy Ladd, the critical analysis of the poetry is setwithin the framework of an appreciation of Deaf culture and Deaf communities.